YuGiOh: The Millenium Curse 1
by Thunderboom
Summary: Melissa and Jonathan were just two ordinary duelists. That is, until they went to Duel Academy.


Yu-Gi-Oh

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**The Millennium Curse**

**Get Your Game On!**

**Chapter 1**

"I'll go first." Melissa told her opponent, and she drew a card.

"I'll play the field card Fusion Gate, and place this card in defense mode." she continued, "Oh, and I'll throw down two face-down cards, too, before ending my turn."

"Alright, then it's _my_ turn." her opponent said, and he drew a card.

He checked his hand. _I think I'll play these._ he thought, and he made his move.

"I'll play Ancient Gear Knight in attack mode, and I'll play the continuous spell card Ancient Gear Castle." he said, "As you know, Melissa, Ancient Gear Castle increases my 'Ancient Gear' monsters' attack by 300 points, thus raising Ancient Gear Knight's attack points to 2100."

"Shoot." Melissa muttered.

"Now, I'll have my Ancient Gear Knight attack your face-down monster." he told his opponent.

"And you destroy my Decoy Dragon." Melissa told him.

"Your move."

Jonathan: LP 8000

Melissa: LP 8000

Melissa and her friend, Jonathan, who had only known her for a few months, were playing Duel Monsters, a favorite hobby of theirs. They weren't using their KaibaCorp Duel Disks, though, so it was just a normal card game. However, they were playing with double the normal amount of Life Points.

"I'll draw a card, then." Melissa said, and she drew one.

_Yes!_ she thought, _If only I could play this one card..._

"I'll set this card in defense mode, and end my turn."

Jonathan drew a card.

"I'll summon Green Gadget in attack mode, and I'll have it attack your face-down monster." Jonathan said.

"...And you destroy my Red-Eyes Black Chick." Melissa told him, putting the card in her graveyard.

"_And_ my Ancient Gear Knight will attack your Life Points directly, for 2100 points of damage." Jonathan continued, "And then I end my turn. Your move."

Jonathan: LP 8000

Melissa: LP 5900

"Great. He might actually beat me!" Melissa grumbled.

By now, their game had drawn a few spectators.

Melissa drew a card.

_What?!_ she thought in shock, _This is __perfect__! This is the one card I needed right now!_

"I summon my Red-Eyes Black Chick in attack mode." she said, "But that's not all; I'll also send it directly to the graveyard, to let me summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon in attack mode!"

_Uh-oh._ Jonathan thought.

"Now, I'll have my Red-Eyes attack your Green Gadget, destroying it and doing 1000 points of damage to your life points!" Melissa continued, "I end my turn."

Jonathan: LP 7000

Melissa LP 5900

_She just ruined a plan I had..._ Jonathan thought, looking at the Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera in his hand. He drew a card.

" I'll sacrifice my Knight to summon my Ancient Gear Engineer." Jonathan informed his opponent, "Then my Ancient Gear Engineer will attack your Red-Eyes."

_What is he thinking? Ancient Gear Engineer only has 1500 attack, 1800 because of his castle._ Melissa thought, _Wait a minute. It must have an effect I don't know about._

"Although my Ancient Gear Engineer was destroyed by the attack," Jonathan said, moving his card to the graveyard, "Due to its effect, I get to destroy one of your spell or trap cards. I choose the one on your left."

Jonathan: LP 6400

Melissa: LP 5900

"So you destroyed my Burst Stream of Destruction." Melissa said, shrugging and moving the spell card to her graveyard, "I didn't have a Blue-Eyes anyway, so I don't really care."

Melissa drew a card, and her eyes got wide.

"Whoa." she stated, staring at the card.

"I activate my face-down card, which is the trap, Call of the Haunted." Melissa said, flipping the card over, "As you know, this card lets me return a monster from my graveyard to the field. And the monster I choose is Red-Eyes Black Chick!"

"Rather weak card." Jonathan commented.

"Yes, but now I'll sacrifice both my Red-Eyes to summon my Felgrand Dragon!" Melissa said, playing the card she just drew.

Felgrand Dragon: ATK 2800 DEF 2800

"Oh no!" Jonathan said, "I forgot that I just left my Life Points wide open for an attack! I _really_ shouldn't have sacrificed my Knight..."

"Well, you snooze, you lose." Melissa said, "Now, Felgrand Dragon, attack his Life Points directly!"

Jonathan deducted Felgrand Dragon's ATK from his Life Points.

Jonathan: LP 3600

Melissa: LP 5900

Jonathan drew a card from his deck.

"I'll play the continuous spell card Gravekeeper's Servant, and place a card face-down." Jonathan said, "I end my turn."

"I'll draw a card." Melissa said, and she decided not to play the card she drew.

"Because of Gravekeeper's Servant, I'll have to send the top card on my deck to my graveyard to attack." Melissa continued, discarding her top card, "Now my Felgrand Dragon will attack your life points directly for 2800 points of damage."

Jonathan: LP 800

Melissa: LP 5900

"I end my turn."

"I hope I can pull this around..." Jonathan muttered to himself, and he drew a card.

"Great..." Jonathan said, and he played the card he drew.

"I play Soul Release." he said, "This lets me remove from play up to five cards from your graveyard, so I'll remove your five monsters, leaving your Burst Stream of Destruction and your Call of the Haunted. I end my turn."

Melissa drew a card.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, and she played the card she had drawn last turn.

"I summon Kaibaman in attack mode, then I'll tribute him to special summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Melissa said, playing the card she drew this turn.

"I am so dead." Jonathan muttered.

The spectators were all amazed to see such a rare and powerful card.

"It's so awesome that Industrial Illusions decided to mass-produce these, so Kaiba's not the only one with them." Melissa commented, "Even though he still has three of the original four."

"Now, I'll finish it off with my Blue-Eyes." Melissa finished.

Jonathan: LP -2200

Melissa: LP 5900

"And that's game!" Melissa said, she held her hand out to her friend, who shook it.

**CHAPTER 2**

The Next Day:

"So how's your Vehicroid Deck going?" Melissa, a brown-haired girl of 15, asked her friend.

"Oh, pretty good, I just need some more Spell and Trap-Cards for it." Jonathan, a gauntly, dark-haired boy of 15 years of age, replied.

"You are so totally obsessed with Machine-Types, Jonathan."

"You and Dragons are no different."

"Yep, especially the Legendary Dragons." Melissa said, showing him some of her cards, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, and Five-Headed Dragon."

"I thought Kaiba didn't like that card, something about 'personal experience'." Jonathan replied, pointing to Melissa's Five-Headed Dragon.

"What Kaiba doesn't know, won't hurt him." Melissa replied, winking.

"Also, you have a card of him, so he lets it slide."

"That too."

"You know, I still have a Legendary Dragon you don't have, other than my Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon." Jonathan said, pulling it out, "Dragon Master Knight."

Melissa gaped at the card Jonathan held in front of her.

"No. Way." Melissa said in shock, "That's the only thing that can defeat my Five-Headed Dragon! How did you get it?!"

"Through an Ante Duel."

"An _Ante_ Duel?!" Melissa asked in shock, "As if! Aren't those illegal?"

"Not really. Kaiba himself held an Ante Tournament once."

"But still, I have the rest of the Legends!" Melissa said proudly.

"Not exactly." said a voice. Jonathan and Melissa turned to see a boy older than them walking toward them.

"I noticed you don't have _this_ Dragon." he said, holding a card up.

It was called "Light and Darkness Dragon", and it had one of the wickedest effects Melissa had ever seen.

"Whoa." she commented.

"I'm Thomas Gray." said the boy, who had long, straight, black hair, "And who are you two?"

"I'm Jonathan" Jonathan said.

"And I'm Melissa." Melissa introduced herself.

"And _I'm_ Catherine." said a rather ditzy-looking girl behind Thomas, who looked like she was Jonathan and Melissa's age.

Catherine was busy staring into space, but stopped for a moment to look the two duelists over. When she got to Melissa's neck, she froze, and pointed to Melissa's necklace. Melissa's necklace was golden, and at the front of it was a large wadjet.

"What, this?" Melissa said, "My grandfather found it on an excavation in Egypt, along with a few other, similar items."

"It has the same symbol Yugi's pyramid has." Thomas commented, noticing it as well.

"Yeah, that was one of the other items they found. One of my grandfather's partners took it, and someone else took the last one." Melissa explained.

"I watched your duel yesterday. You two are pretty good," Thomas told them, "though _you're_ better." he finished, addressing Melissa.

"You really think so?" Melissa asked, rather flattered.

"Yeah. You two ought to go to Duel Academy." Thomas said, "I'm sure that with a bit of practice, you two could be phenomenal!"

"Duel Academy? As in _Seto Kaiba's_ Duel Academy?!" Melissa asked.

"Yeah, that one." Thomas replied.

"Great!" Melissa replied, "How do we sign up?"

**CHAPTER 3**

A Month Later:

"So we're in Obelisk Blue, Melissa." Jonathan said, checking the list, "I wonder what that means."

"It means I get a ridiculous outfit!" Melissa said, gawking at the uniform she was wearing.

"It doesn't look much different than the outfit you usually wear." Jonathan commented.

"_Excuse_ me?!"

"Well, you usually wear a sleeveless shirt and a skirt."

"Yeah, but not a _mini_skirt!" Melissa replied, "And also, this outfit is rather tight!"

"So is mine!" Jonathan replied, pointing at his own outfit, "The new Duel Disks are cool, though."

"I _swear_, whoever came up with these outfits is a perv." Melissa complained, crossing her arms.

A month had passed, and the new school year had begun. Jonathan and Melissa were now enrolled at Duel Academy, Melissa having utterly devastated her opponent during the duel portion of the entrance exam. Jonathan, on the other hand, had just barely managed to win his duel, but had gotten an excellent grade on the written portion. However, since he used Dr. Crowler's favorite type of monsters, the Ancient Gear Monsters, he got into Obelisk Blue, anyway, instead of being placed in Ra Yellow.

Jonathan and Melissa were wearing their academy uniforms, a long, blue jacket with white trim in Jonathan's case, and a white, sleeveless jacket with blue trim, a blue miniskirt, blue boots, and blue gloves in Melissa's case.

"You still have a more involved outfit than me." Jonathan complained.

"What, you actually _want_ to wear this?" Melissa asked him.

"NO!" Jonathan hastily replied, "I'm just sayin', is all..."

"I see you two are in Obelisk Blue, as well." Thomas commented, as he strode up to them.

"So you're in Blue, too?" Melissa asked.

"Well, yes, obviously." Thomas said, gesturing towards the flowing blue jacket he was wearing.

"So am I." said Catherine, following behind her brother. She was wearing the same outfit Melissa was wearing, just like Thomas was wearing the same kind of jacket as Jonathan.

"So tell me again, who exactly won their duel yesterday: Catherine or Crystal?" Thomas asked his sister.

"Don't be silly, Thomas." Catherine said, shaking her head, "You know as well as I do that all girls at Duel Academy are in Obelisk Blue by default."

"Why's that?" Jonathan asked.

"Because, silly, Obelisk is the only one with separate dorms." Catherine replied, giggling.

"So where exactly _are_ the dorms, anyway?" Melissa asked.

"On Duel Academy Island, for starters." replied Catherine.

"Speaking of which," said Thomas, "You two'll need to hurry up if you want to get there. The helicopter's waiting."

"We're gettin' there by _helicopter_?!" Jonathan asked in shock.

"Oh, come on, you big scaredy-cat." said Melissa, "Kaiba wouldn't risk our lives."

"Oh _no_." Jonathan replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "Of course he wouldn't."

"Look, Jonathan," Melissa said, "If you want to go to Duel Academy, you'll need to face your fears."

"Fine. This one time."

Later, on the ride to Duel Academy Island:

"Hey, Thomas," Jonathan said, "I was meaning to ask you something earlier."

"Yeah, what?" replied Thomas, who was keeping an eye on his sister, who seemed to be curious about anything she saw.

"Who's Crystal?" Jonathan asked him.

"Oh, that. Crystal is Catherine's alternate personality." Thomas replied, "I think she's just normal Catherine right now, because she's acting a tad insane."

"A _tad_?!" Melissa asked in shock.

"So what's Crystal like?"

"Well, she's a lot more focused than Catherine, and she's a much better duelist, and uses an entirely different deck."

"Are you talking about me behind my back?!" Catherine snapped at them, her eyes full of rage.

Instantly, she returned to her own, ditzy self.

"Oh, hello, Thomas. I didn't notice you there." she said, and she looked out the window.

"I think that was Crystal for a moment." Thomas commented, "Since Crystal has a lot shorter temper than Catherine."

"Well, I think I can understand what Catherine must go through." Jonathan said, "After all, I'm a narcissist."

"Uh, Jonathan," Melissa pointed out, "I don't think that's quite the same."

"Although I do agree that narcissism _is_ a personality disorder, like multiple-personality disorder." Melissa said, after a moment's thought.

"Its technical term is 'dissociative identity disorder'." Thomas corrected.

"What are you talking about, big brother?" Catherine asked very sweetly and innocently.

"Um, nothing, Catherine." Thomas replied.

**CHAPTER 4**

They finally made it to Duel Academy Island, where they found their dorms.

Jonathan couldn't stop staring at the marvelous building he found, resting over a river.

"That thing is _huge_!!" Jonathan exclaimed, "And totally cool, to top it off!"

"Well, too bad," Melissa said, "Because this is the girls' dorm, meaning you can't go in. You'll need to go find the boys' dorm."

"I sure hope it's as remarkable as this one..." Jonathan muttered, as he went off to find his own dorm.

"Here, Jonathan, follow me." Thomas said, leading the way.

"Why?"

"Because I know how to get there, and you obviously don't, since you two needed me to find this one for you."

Shortly after the two boys left, Melissa's necklace started glowing.

"What the...?" she asked in surprise.

A beam of light shot out from it, and struck Catherine, who collapsed to the ground.

"Catherine!" Melissa exclaimed, and she went to help her classmate.

"Ugh..." Catherine said groggily, rubbing her head, "What just happened?"

Melissa decided not to tell her the truth.

"Here we are, Jonathan, the Obelisk boys' dorm." Thomas said, gesturing towards the mansion-like building in front of them.

"It's still not as cool as the girls' one." Jonathan grumbled, "How come girls always get the best stuff?!"

"Tell me about it..." Thomas agreed with him.

"Okay, I will."

"I didn't mean literally!"

"Whoa." Jonathan said as he entered the building.

The whole building looked like a high-class hotel, only better. Jonathan had never seen such a sight to behold, so he just stood around staring.

"Hey, new kid!" said someone, "Outta my way!"

Jonathan turned to see a boy striding towards him, rather arrogantly.

"Who're you?" Jonathan asked the newcomer.

"I'm Chazz Princeton." replied the boy, "And you'd best remember it."

With this, Chazz shoved past Jonathan, and continued on his way, followed by his two cronies.

"What was that all about?" Jonathan wondered aloud.

"Oh, don't mind him, Jonathan," Thomas told him, "The Princetons are a rather snobby lot."

"I'd like to teach him some respect!" Jonathan said, looking at his deck.

"Yeah, you do that."

"And what'd you mean by that?"

"I mean, Chazz has some wickedly powerful cards in his deck, and even your Ancient Gear monsters would have a problem dealing with them."

"Wait a minute..." Jonathan said, "Back up. You watched my duel?"

"I watched everyone's entrance duel." Thomas replied, "Including yours and your friend Melissa's."

"Okay..." Jonathan said, sounding a bit creeped out.

"Hey, Jonathan," Thomas said, checking his watch, "You're going to miss the welcome dinner."

"There's a welcome dinner?"

"Yeah, and you're late already."

"Bye, Thomas! See ya later!" Jonathan said and he raced off to find this 'welcome' thing.

Later:

_Beedle-beep! Beedle-beep!_

"Huh?" asked Melissa, "My PDA is beeping?"

"Then you'd better answer it." said a girl.

"Um, how?"

"Hand it to me."

Melissa did this, and the girl pushed a button on it before handing it back to Melissa.

"There you go."

Melissa looked at her Academy-Issue PDA-Thing.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, "I didn't know these things worked as video-phones!"

"Yep." said Jonathan, who was on the other end, "Nor did I, until Thomas showed me. So how was your day?"

"Good. How was yours?"

"Fine, except for the fact that my headmaster, Dr. Crowler, is INSANE!!"

"Jonathan, there's a fine line between being insane, and being, uh... shall we say, _sly_." Melissa replied, using a term from the sci-fi series "Firefly".

"There ain't much, if you ask me! Besides, he's creepin' me out!"

"Yeah, me too. I wonder why he's a headmaster. You'd think Kaiba would've fired him a long time ago."

"How's your headmaster?"

"Oh, Ms. Fontaine is fine." Melissa replied, "Did you know she's also the school's head medic and gym instructor?"

"Uh, no. I haven't left this place since I got here, and I spent my time modifying my decks and chatting with Thomas."

"Hey, how's my Cyber Dragon deck going?"

"Pretty good. It's almost ready." Jonathan replied, holding up the stack of cards for Melissa to see, "I couldn't find enough Cyber Dragon cards, so I added a Cyberdark set, instead."

"Don't the Cyberdark cards combine into a dragon?"

"Yep." Jonathan said, holding the card up, "Cyberdark Dragon."

"Good!" Melissa replied, "Then you can include them in the deck."

"I still don't see why I need to make a deck for you."

"We wagered it on a duel that one time, remember?" Melissa asked, "The loser had to make the winner a deck,

"Oh, yeah." Jonathan said, remembering, "That was before you had your Red-Eyes Black Dragons, right?"

"Yep!" Melissa said, "It was right before that guy with green hair and a Red-Eyes Black Dragon told me that Blue-Eyes brings victory, and Red-Eyes brings possibility. So, naturally, I went out and got three of them."

"Who're talking to, Jonathan?" Thomas asked.

"The only other person I know on this island: Melissa." Jonathan replied, and the two friends continued chatting.

"Hey, Melissa," Jonathan asked, "Did you get an outfit change like you wanted?"

"No, unfortunately," Melissa replied, "But I _was_ able to get a one of those long-tailed jackets. See?"

Melissa held her PDA at arm's length so Jonathan could see her outfit. It was basically the exact same thing as before, but now she was wearing, over top of it all, a jacket similar to Jonathan's.

"It reminds me of the one Kaiba had during his Battle City Tournament." Jonathan commented.

"I know. That's what you reminded _me_ of, when I first saw your outfit."

"Hey, Melissa," Jonathan asked, "Have you noticed what kinds of cards seem to be used a lot here?"

"Yeah, I have." Melissa replied.

"You have? Great!" Jonathan said, "Do you think you could tell me?"

"I don't see why not." Melissa said, "I've noticed that everyone here uses different cards, for the most part."

"I see." Jonathan said, "That means we'll need to be prepared for _anything_."

"Yep. And I already am."

"You are? How?"

"Because I use Dragons, Jonathan. Dragons are great against everything!" Melissa answered, "And Dragons are going to be renowned as the type of preference for the Queen of Games!"

"You still want that title, then, huh?"

"Yep! And there's nothing that can happen that can prevent me from obtaining it!"

"Hey, Jonathan." Thomas said suddenly, making Jonathan jump, because he had forgotten all about him, "Shouldn't you two be going to sleep soon? Students who oversleep are usually disqualified, you know."

"Yeah, I guess so. Goodbye, Melissa!" Jonathan said.

"Later! See ya tomorrow!" Melissa replied.

**CHAPTER 5**

Jonathan closed his eyes, concentrating before drawing his card.

_I've got to trust in the heart of the cards..._ Jonathan thought to himself, and he drew his card.

"Perfect!" he said, "I'll sacrifice my Green Gadget and Red Gadget to summon my Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon!"

A hologram of an enormous dragon, made entirely of old, rusty cogs and gears, materialized in front Jonathan.

"Now, Gadjiltron Dragon, attack his Light and Darkness Dragon!"

"Are you forgetting _my_ dragon's in defense mode?" Thomas said.

"Nope." Jonathan replied, smiling, "And since I sacrificed my Green Gadget in summoning my dragon, the difference gets taken out of your life points! And since you used Light and Darkness Dragon's effect a few times, it has a lot less defense points than it normally does."

Thomas: LP 500

Jonathan: LP 1700

"And, because I also sacrificed my _Red_ Gadget, I get to take another 600 points out of your life points when I destroy one of your monsters."

Thomas: LP -100

Jonathan: LP 1700

"Well, you beat me, Jonathan." Thomas said, admitting defeat.

"Yep!" Jonathan said, "And it was a pretty close duel, too."

"So why'd you challenge Thomas in the first place, Jonathan?" asked Melissa, who was wearing the normal Obelisk Blue uniform again.

"I just really wanted to see what kind of cards he had." Jonathan replied.

"He sure has some strong ones." Melissa commented, "Did you notice how he destroyed your Machine King so quickly?"

"Uh, yeah." Jonathan replied, "I was the one playing it."

"You were fairly good, however way you look at it." added Catherine, who had seemed rather confident the entire day. (Thomas suspected she was really Crystal.)

"That was impressive." a girl commented, "I've seen plenty of other duelists get defeated by Thomas faster than you beat him."

"Hi, Alexis." Melissa greeted the girl, Alexis Rhodes.

"Hello, Melissa." Alexis said, "So this is your friend Jonathan you wouldn't stop talking abut?"

Melissa blushed.

"Um, y-yeah, h-he's the one." she responded, slightly stammering.

"Rather chatty friend you have there." Crystal whispered to Jonathan.

"I've noticed." he replied.

"Hey, Melissa, how come your eyes are all black and wide?" Catherine asked.

"Huh?!" Melissa said, "I-I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" Melissa said.

Jonathan was starting to get confused, so he went to get his laptop.

"Excuse me a moment, I need to look up something." he said, and he left.

After a few minutes he returned, and started typing away at his keyboard, with Crystal looking over his shoulder.

Eventually, Jonathan found what he was looking for.

The look on Jonathan's face was one of total shock, and he gaped at his computer as he continued to read.

"Yay." Crystal said, sarcastically, "You finally figured it out."

"What's he reading?" Melissa asked her.

"The Wikipedia article on limerence." Crystal replied.

"I think I'll be leaving now. Later!" Melissa said, and she left faster than anyone could say "Winged Kuriboh". She was followed by Alexis.

"I can't believe Melissa has a crush on me!" Jonathan exclaimed, noting that her behavior met all the symptoms.

"_Why_ Melissa would have a crush on you, is what _I_ want to know." Crystal said, "You're so effeminate. "

"I am not!" Jonathan said, "I may be unintentionally girly, but I am not effeminate!"

"You so are." Crystal replied, "I hope you can return Melissa's feelings, though, being how you are."

"Thomas, back me up here." Jonathan asked his new friend, "And, by the way, I am _not_ like that!"

"Sorry, Jonathan, but I'm going to have to agree with Crys here." Thomas said, shaking his head, "You actually are rather feminine."

"What, just because..." Jonathan started, then he looked it up on Wikipedia for the exact wording, "Just because I'm 'gentle, patient, and kind'?!"

"Not just that." Crystal said, "You also display many other feminine traits. I'm surprised you _ever _win any duels, being so soft."

"Oh, be quiet you!" Jonathan snapped.

Jonathan then thought better of it, and said, "I'm sorry, Crystal, do you think you could forgive me? I don't like to be mean to people."

"Congratulations, you softy," Crystal said, "You've just proven my point. You're _definitely_ effeminate."

"I AM NOT!!" Jonathan said, stamping his foot. His eyes began to water.

"And you're quite emotional, too." Crystal continued.

"Goodbye!" Jonathan said in a huff, "I'm leaving, too!"

And he stormed off, sobbing as he went.

"Great, Crys." Thomas commented, "Now he'll hate us, _and _have low morale. I think you went way overboard there. I certainly hope he doesn't report you for verbal abuse, because I'd like to have that honor."

Melissa, who was staring in a mirror, thinking desperately how events might turn out, noticed her necklace glowing again.

"Not again!" she said, rolling her eyes, "This is like, so totally not my day."

For a moment, Melissa thought the center of the wadjet was glowing crimson, but she dismissed it as a hallucination brought on by stress, and went to lunch.

Once there, she made a point to sit as far apart from Jonathan as possible.

Ironically, Jonathan tried to sit as close to Melissa as possible, because she was the only friend he had left.

**CHAPTER 6**

After lunch, Crystal (or maybe Catherine) approached Jonathan cautiously, and she seemed to be crying.

"Oh, Jonathan, I'm so sorry about what happened earlier." she said between sobs.

"What's this?!" Melissa demanded from Jonathan, "Are you cheating on me?!"

"Say what?" Jonathan asked, confused.

"Um, nothing." Melissa hastily replied, "Nothing at all."

"I just wanted to apologize for Crystal's rudeness. She really shouldn't go around harassing people. I really abhor her behavior." Catherine said, bowing, "I need to make amends for it. If I could ever make it up to you...?"

"Yeah, you can make it up to me by stopping her from insulting me anymore." Jonathan replied.

"Did I miss out on a scene of importance?" Melissa asked, "I sure hope not, because it would give me a serious lack of info on the plotline. Also, what the heck does 'abhor' mean?"

"It means 'detest', Melissa." Catherine replied.

"Well, I _was_ just on my way to file a complaint," Jonathan said, "But I think I'll let it slide for now."

"Seriously, could someone fill me in here?" asked Melissa.

"I'll explain on our way to our next class, Melissa." Jonathan said, and the three students continued walking.

"...And so that's what happened." Jonathan finished.

"Crystal had a good point, though, Jonathan." Melissa commented.

"What?!" exclaimed Jonathan, "Are you saying I really _am_ effeminate?!"

"Well, um, actually..."

"Great."

"Jonathan," Melissa addressed him, "You like flowers more than I do, for crying out loud."

"What's wrong with that?" Jonathan asked, "Flowers are pretty! I've heard they smell nice, too, but my nose is always congested, so I wouldn't know."

"Oi, we're here." Catherine informed them, and they went inside the auditorium.

Later that day:

"Hey, Catherine," Jonathan asked, "You don't mind if I challenge your sadistic alter-ego to a duel in an attempt to regain my honor, do you?"

"I don't see why not." replied Catherine, who was busy watching the clouds.

"Um, hello." said a shy-looking boy wearing a short, red jacket.

"Hello." said Jonathan.

"Hi, there!" said Melissa.

"G'day." Catherine said, still looking at the clouds.

"Um, I'm kind of lost." said the boy, "Do you think you could help me find the Slifer dormitory?"

"Sure!" Jonathan said, "What's your name, by the way?"

"Oh, my name's Osiris." said the Slifer Red student.

"Mine's Jonathan." said Jonathan.

"I'm Melissa." said Melissa.

"Catherine." said Catherine, quite simply.

"So where _is_ the Slifer dorm, anyway?" Melissa asked.

"It's on the shore of the island." replied Jonathan, "I saw it when I was wandering around the island earlier."

"What's it look like?"

"It looks like a motel, to be honest."

"Oh. Too bad."

"Well, Osiris," Jonathan said, pointing, "You just walk that way, and you'll get there in no time!"

"Oh, thank you so much!" Osiris said, "Goodbye!"  
And he left.

"That was nice of you, Jonathan." Catherine commented, and she pointed to a cloud, saying, "That one looks like a Kuriboh."

"It _does_, doesn't it?" Melissa commented.

"Well, I'm a nice person." Jonathan replied.

"I like nice people." Catherine commented, "They're a lot better than mean people."

"Like you, for instance," she continued, speaking to someone the others couldn't see, "You bloody sadist. I really, really hate you, you know."

"Well, I'm glad to hear the feeling is mutual, Crystal," she continued, "But I'm afraid you can't do anything about it. You're stuck with me, and that's it, until I can get rid of you once and for all."

Jonathan and Melissa just stared at her.

"Oh. Sorry about that." she said, addressing them, "Crystal and I aren't on very good terms with each other."

**CHAPTER 7**

"You're pretty cute." a girl with two pointy upper teeth told Jonathan, rather lispingly.

"Melissa!" Jonathan called, "I think someone's hitting on me!"

Instantly, Melissa was between the two students, looking very cross.

"Are you flirting with my boyfriend?!" she demanded.

"I'm not your boyfriend!" Jonathan said.

"Well, I meant, you know, a friend who's a boy." Melissa replied, shrugging.

"Who are you?" the girl asked, "His bodyguard?"

"No, I'm just his friend, Melissa, who told him to let her know when someone was flirting with him."

"Jonathan doesn't get it." Jonathan said, continuing with the third-person point of view.

"Well, I'm sorry, Melissa," the girl told her, "But I didn't see any problem with it, since he's _not _your boyfriend."

"I'll leave you two to discuss this yourselves," Jonathan said, "Because you're starting to scare me."

And he left as fast as he could.

"Who are you, anyway?" Melissa demanded.

"The name's Serpentina." the girl said, unable to pronounce her name correctly, because of lisping.

"What kind of name is that?"

"I don't honestly know." Serpentina replied, "I think my parents named me that because of my teeth. They look kind of like the fangs of a snake, albeit shorter. See?"

She opened her mouth to show Melissa.

"Uh, Serpentina, babies aren't born with teeth, you know." Melissa commented.

"What about their egg teeth?" Serpentina asked.

"Uh, humans babies don't have egg teeth." Melissa replied, rolling her eyes.

"What do you mean babies aren't born with egg teeth?" Serpentina asked, "Then how do they break out of their shells?"

"Uh, humans aren't born from eggs, either." Melissa said.

"Oh _yeah_?" Serpentina asked, "Then what _are they born from_?!"

"Well, urm, uh..."

Melissa, seeing that she had no other choice, decided to inform Serpentina of her mistake. She leaned over to her, and whispered into her ear.

Serpentina's eyes instantly grew about five times wider, and she had a grimace on her face.

Melissa continued whispering to her for a minute or two, and then finished and backed away a few feet.

"I-is that r-really...?" Serpentina asked, shocked.

Melissa nodded.

"Ohh..." Serpentina said, uneasily, "Too much information..."

"Aren't you glad I set you straight, though?" Melissa asked.

"Not really..." Serpentina replied, "I may have some facts accurate now, but I wish you hadn't told me."

"Well, that's what friends are for." Melissa replied.

"Friends?"

"Unless you'd rather be rivals, but I think we should be friends."

"Okay, let's be friends!"

"Want to have a duel?"

"Okay." Serpentina replied, "It'll get my mind off this subject, at least."

Later, as Jonathan was wandering around, he heard a duel in progress, so he went to go check it out.

He soon found the duel, which included Catherine. Catherine didn't look like she usually did, however. It was as if a change had come over her since Jonathan had last seen her.

Catherine was dueling a Ra Yellow student, and it was Catherine's turn.

"I activate my face-down card: Dark Designator." she said, "This card lets me call out a card name, and if it's in your deck, you get to put it in your hand. I choose the card... Water Dragon."

"So what's the point of giving me my best card?" her opponent asked.

"So I can play this card." she replied, "Exchange!"

The two student showed each other their hands.

"I'll choose your Water Dragon." Catherine said.

"Then I'll choose your Monster Reincarnation." said her opponent.

The two duelists handed each other the card they had chosen.

"Now I'll activate my other face-down card, Zera Ritual!" Catherine said, smiling, "And, since I now have an eighth level monster in my hand, your Water Dragon, I'll sacrifice it to Ritual Summon my Zera the Mant!"

"Now, my friend Zera will attack your life points directly." Catherine finished, "You're lucky this was a normal game, and not a shadow game."

Catherine: LP 900

Bastion: LP -1700

Catherine walked off.

_What was __that__ all about?_ Jonathan thought.

After walking a good ways away, Catherine collapsed to her knees, clutching her head. Jonathan ran over to his friend to help her.

"Oh, my head..." Catherine said, "What happened?"

She noticed the Duel Disk strapped to her arm.

"Huh? Have I been dueling someone? I don't remember dueling anyone..." she thought aloud, and she took the deck out to check it.

"Wha...? These are my cards, but I would _never_ make a deck with them." she commented.

"Why not?" Jonathan asked her.

"Oh, hi, Jonathan." she said, with only the mildest hint of surprise, "I never use these cards because I only ever use cards that are cute. Crystal, on the other hand, uses a Crystal Beast deck. Oh, I have such a bloody headache..."

"I'll take you to the infirmary, then." Jonathan said, helping her up.

Jonathan got her to the infirmary, where Ms. Fontaine took care of her. Jonathan, meanwhile, went back to see if Melissa and Serpentina had settled their differences yet. Instead, he found yet another duel, this time in an arena.

Melissa had her Blue-Eyes White Dragon out, and Serpentina had a Meteor Dragon in defense mode.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon: ATK 3000/DEF 2500

Meteor Dragon: ATK 1800/DEF 2000

Melissa: LP 2200

Serpentina: LP 1700

"I'll activate my Polymerization!" Serpentina said, and she played her card, "Thus fusing my Meteor Dragon with the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in my hand, forming my Meteor Black Dragon!"

Meteor Black Dragon: ATK 3500/DEF2000

A weird-looking dragon Jonathan had never seen before materialized in front of her, and it attacked and destroyed Melissa's Blue-Eyes.

Melissa: LP 1700

Serpentina: LP 1700

"My turn." Melissa said, and she drew a card.

"I activate my face-down card, Ring of Destruction!"

Jonathan knew what would happen next: Ring of Destruction destroys a monster and inflicts its attack points as damage to each player. Since the only monster on the field was Meteor Black Dragon, Ring of Destruction had to target it.

Melissa: LP -1800

Serpentina: LP -1800

"And that's game!" Melissa said, "I win!"

"Uh, Melissa, it was a tie." Serpentina said, "Did you not realize that?"

"Yep!" Melissa replied, "Which means I win, since you didn't!"

"So what does that mean to our agreement?" Serpentina asked.

"I guess it's fair game for us _both_, then." Melissa said, sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan asked.

"Nothing, Jonathan," Melissa said, winking at Serpentina, "Nothing at all."

**CONTINUED NEXT WEEK...**


End file.
